Profile

Dr. Niklas Swanstrom is the Program Director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with Johns Hopkins University-SAIS and Uppsala University. He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University and Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. He is the Editor of the China Eurasia Forum Quarterly, a quarterly publication on China and Eurasia. His main areas of expertise are conflict prevention, conflict management and regional cooperation; Chinese foreign policy and security in Northeast Asia; narcotics trafficking and its effect on regional and national security as well as negotiations. His focus is mainly on Northeast Asia, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. Dr. Swanstrom was a Visiting Professor and Faculty member at Renmin University in Beijing, China.

Dr. Swanstrom is the author of four books: Transnationell brottslighet: ett sakerhetshot?, Regional Cooperation and Conflict Management: Lessons from the Pacific Rim and Foreign Devils, Dictatorship or Institutional Control: China 's foreign policy towards Southeast Asia. His articles have appeared in the Korean Journal of International Studies, Journal of Contemporary China, CEF Quarterly, Peace Review, Central Asian Survey and the Central Asia -Caucasus Analyst. His commentaries have appeared in Svenska Dagbladet, Uppsala Nya Tidning, Baltimore Sun, Asia Times and Asia Online. He is a frequent traveller in the regions of research and participates in numerous conferences on Asian affairs and is a frequent guest at various events dealing with security and conflict management in Northeast Asia.

Dr. Swanstrom holds a Ph.D. in Peace and Conflict Studies from Uppsala University. His dissertation dealt with regional cooperation and conflict management in the Pacific Rim . He also holds a Licentiate degree from the Department of Peace and Conflict research that examined the Chinese foreign policy towards Southeast Asia. He holds MA degrees from Uppsala University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He has also been a student at Beijing Languages Institute, Beijing University and Dalian Languages University.

He teaches courses in Theory to Peace Studies, Negotiation and Mediation, Conflict Management, Central Asia and Regional Cooperation.